450 



NATURAL niSTORY OF PLANTS. 



quently called Guaiacum, with tetragonal fruits ; it has often, in fact, 

 lour prominent cells (or three or five) in the fruit, while that of the 

 other species is generally two-celled. It is found in the Antilles 

 and Mexico ; the wood is fawn-colour sprinkled with whitish punc- 

 tures. It is much less used than that of G. officinale ; we may say 

 as much for the Ga}^acan of Caracas, a greenish, very acrid wood, 

 furnished by G. arboreum, 1 and the Gayacan of Chili, the hard, 

 blackish wood, with pale-yellow sapwood of G. hygrometricum.- The 

 herbaceous Zygophyllece of our hemisphere are really little used. 

 However, the Zygophyllum fabag& (figs. 497-502) is yet noticed as 

 an anthelmintic and antisyphilitic drug. The bruised leaves give a 

 strong odour, and the buds are sometimes substituted for those of 

 the Caper-plant. The Arabs reduce the leaves of Z. simplex* to 

 powder, and use it in preparing a decoction, which they apply 

 to the eyes as a remedy for film and specks. The plant is also ver- 

 micidal; its fetid odour repels cattle. The powdered seeds of 

 Z. coccinemif are used by the Arabs in helminthic affections. 

 At the Cape Z. sessilifoliiim* and spinosum 7 are employed. Tribulus is 

 said to be astringent. The roots, leaves, and fruit of T. terrestris* 

 (figs. 511-513) are esteemed in the South as aperients and tonics. 

 In the Antilles the root of T. cisloicles 9 is used in the same way. The 

 leaves are applied in drawing abscesses. In India T. lanuginosus™ is 

 also prescribed as diuretic, and in Cuba T. maximus" for various 

 cutaneous affections. Fagonia arabica 12 is used in the East in the 



loc cit., 547. — Rosenth., op. cit., 887 (vulg. 

 Pois Saint, P. de vie). The specific difference 

 between this species and the preceding, resting 

 on the number of the pairs of folioles, and that of 

 the shells of the fruit, are subject to variations, 

 and have not perhaps a very great value. 



1 DC, Prodr., n. 5.— H. B. K., Kov. Gen. 

 et Spec, vii. 11. — Guib., op. cit., 549. — Zygo- 

 phyllum arboreum Jacq., Amer., 130, t. 83. 



• H. Bn., in Adansonia, x. 314. — Porlieria 

 hyi/rometrica R. & Pa v., Syst., 94. — DC, 

 Prodr., i. 707.— Lindl., Fl. Med., 21.5.— Guib., 

 op. cit., 549 (vulg. Turucasa, Ga'iac du Chili). 

 This pi mt is celebrated for the way in which its 

 leaves close in dark dull weather. " Folia 

 aperta aut clausa serenitatem et tempestatem 

 denuntknt." (R. & Pay.) 



3 See p. 422, note 5. Lindl., Fl. Med., 213. 

 ■ — Rosenth., op. cit., 886. 



4 L., Mantiss., 68. — Z . portulacoides Foesk., 

 Mg.-Arab., 88, t. 12. 



5 L., Spec, 551.— Shaw, Afr., f. 231. — 

 Z. desertorum FoRSK., loc. cit., 87, t. 11. 



6 L., Spec, 552. — Dill., Flth., t. 116, 

 fig. 142.— Buem., Afr., 4, t. 2, fig. 1. 



7 L., Mantiss., 380. — Bush., op. cit., 5, t. 

 2, fig. 2. 



8 L., Spec, 554.— Lame., III., t. 346. — 

 Schktthe., Handb., t. 115. — Rosenth., op. cit., 

 885 (vulg. Herse, Herbe terrestre, Saligot ter- 

 restre, Croix de Malte, de chevalier). According 

 to M£eat & Deiens (Bid. Mat. Med., i. 489), 

 it is Atrivolvo of Belon. 



9 L., Spec, 544. — Jacq., Hort. Schcenbr., t. 

 103.— Pluk., Almag., t. 67, fig. 4. —DC, 

 Prodr., i. 703, n. 1. 



10 L., Spec, 553.— Buem., Zeyl., 265, t. 

 106.— DC, Prodr., n. 5. 



11 L., Spec, 553.— Jacq., Ic Ear., t. 462. — 

 Lamk., III., t. 346, fig. 2.— DC, Prodr., n. 6.— 

 Rosenth., op. cit., 885. — Kails troemia maxima 

 W. & Aen. — K. Tribulus Meissn. 



12 L., Spec, 553. — DC, Prodr., i. 704, 

 n. 3. — F. mysorensis Roth. 



